page_title: Drum line (shark control)
section_title: Controversy
hierarchical_section_title: Drum line (shark control) / Controversy
caption_attribution_description: Great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) off South Africa
context_page_description: A drum line is an unmanned aquatic trap used to lure and capture large sharks using baited hooks. They are typically deployed near popular swimming beaches with the intention of reducing the number of sharks in the vicinity and therefore the probability of shark attack. Drum lines are often used in association with shark nets, with the intent of killing sharks. However SMART drum lines can be used to move sharks, which greatly reduces shark and bycatch mortality. The use of drum lines has been successful in reducing shark attacks in the areas where they are installed. The topic of shark culling became an international controversy and sparked public demonstrations and vocal opposition, particularly from environmentalists, animal welfare advocates and ocean activists.
context_section_description: Prior to 2014, drum lines were only utilised on Australia's eastern coast and in South Africa where the numbers of attacks reduced dramatically. In 2014, the Western Australian government reacted to the loss of seven human lives in the years 2010-2013 and installed drum lines along around 200 km of its 20,000 km (12,000 mi) long coastline (around 1%). The policy has been the subject of national and international protests, coming under fire from marine conservationists and animal welfare advocates and their supporters. The policy is commonly referred to as the Western Australian shark cull. Following a change in the West Australian state government in March 2017, the newly elected Premier Mark McGowan and Fisheries Minister David Kelly have stated that they do not support the previous governments' catch and kill policy. However, in August 2018, following continual shark attacks, the West Australian state government reversed their position and announced a 12-month trial of "SMART" drumlines along Western Australia's South West coast, near Gracetown.
  Drum lines have been criticised on animal rights grounds, not only for their negative effect on the environment and killing of endangered species, but also for their non-scientific and speciesist approach.
  A number of people opposed to the Queensland's shark-killing program have sabotaged various drum lines throughout Queensland to save sharks, despite the risk of being fined.
  The current shark-killing program in Queensland has been criticized by environmentalists, conservationists, and animal rights advocates — they say Queensland's shark-killing program is unethical and harms the marine ecosystem. Queensland's shark-killing program has been called "outdated, cruel and ineffective". The government of Queensland currently kills sharks in the Great Barrier Reef using 173 lethal drum lines; in 2018, Humane Society International Australia filed a lawsuit (court challenge) requesting that the drum lines be removed there. The case was heard in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in January 2019, and in April 2019 the Tribunal ordered that sharks no longer be culled in the Great Barrier Reef based on the evidence that killing sharks makes no difference to swimmer safety. The Queensland Government said it would appeal the decision.
caption: Great white sharks were targeted by Western Australia's controversial shark culling policy.
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